Join an expert local guide on a small-group or private Jewish Ghetto walking tour in Venice, exploring the historic Cannaregio district and the world’s oldest Jewish Ghetto, founded in 1516. Cross into Campo del Ghetto Nuovo and learn how Venetian Jews were confined to this fortified island, creating a densely populated neighborhood shaped by faith, tradition, and resilience. Discover hidden landmarks, symbolic bas-reliefs often missed by visitors, and hear how Napoleon removed the Ghetto gates, allowing Jewish residents to live throughout Venice. Today, the Jewish Ghetto remains rich in heritage, with traditional bakeries, restaurants, and distinctive architecture offering a powerful insight into Venice’s Jewish history and cultural identity.
Continue into the Cannaregio district, a lively residential area in northern Venice known for its authentic local atmosphere. The historic Jewish presence is immediately visible, with yellow signs in Hebrew and Italian guiding you toward the synagogues hidden within the neighborhood.
The charming Ghetto Vecchio (Old Ghetto) is best explored at a leisurely pace, with its artisan workshops, galleries, small shops, and traditional delis bringing the neighborhood to life.
Visit the Spanish Synagogue in Venice, established by Sephardic Jews who settled in the city after their expulsion from Spain in the late 15th century. It has an elegant Baroque interior rich in symbolism and Sephardic tradition. Today, it is one of the most important synagogues in Venice and a key site for understanding the city’s Jewish heritage.
Visit the Levantine Synagogue in Venice, established by Levantine Jewish merchants from the Eastern Mediterranean. It is known for its richly decorated interior, elevated bimah, and traditional design. Still an active place of worship, the Levantine Synagogue is one of the most important sites for understanding Venice’s Jewish history, religious life, and cultural heritage.
Although the museum itself is under restoration and closed to visitors, these exclusive visits to the synagogues offer a rare opportunity to experience the city's Jewish legacy firsthand.
This tour provides an in depth look at the Jewish community in Venice pre-Modern era through WWIII. The guide was so knowledgeable and patient answering questions and sharing information that was not known to many of us. A must go to tour when in Venice.
Our guide at the synogogue portion excellent. Really gave insight to area. Loved this part of tour. Visiting the two!!
Very interesting and informative. The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable. Small group was convenient
Outstanding experience. Our guide was knowledgeable, flexible, and showed genuine concern that we have the best experience possible. This was the very best tour we had during our entire stay in Venice.
Very informative and sobering
The tour guide, Sandra, for the group was personable and helpful and offered interesting information. The tour guide for the synagogues was very knowledgeable and wonderful!
Tell them they’re expected to know how to navigate the Venetian water travel services (buses/taxis) to get to the other island where the Ghetto Nuovo is. Let them know it’s at least 30 minutes away, not including waiting time.
Ale Fragalla was our private guide for this walk through the old Jewish ghetto of Venice. He was excellent; knowledgeable, warm and gracious. We have traveled extensively and Ale is clearly among the best guides we have had.
Enjoyed a very informative tour of the Ghetto and some of its buildings. We were given an excellent overview of the Ghetto, its occupants and their place in Venetian history. I’d never visited a synagogue before so was pleased to have the chance to do so on this tour. Special mention of our guide, Sylvia, who gave a detailed account of the Ghetto’s history and its changes over the years. Would definitely recommend this tour to others.
Very insightful information by a charming, fun and knowledgeable guide. A moving experience that all should know about.
We had one main tour guide and a second person join when we tour the synagogues. The second tour guide was very knowledgeable and professional. Our main tour guide, however, was very disappointing.
This was a very interesting and moving tour of the Jewish ghetto. Cristina, our guide, provided us with a wealth of information about the past, present and future of Venice’s Jewish community. We appreciated being able to visit two synagogues.
Sandra provided a real inside view of this special area of Venice. She was kind and thoughtful in leading our group. Easy to understand and provided interesting history.
Very knowledgable guide..showed us a lot of “secret” things. Worth the treck. Very knowledgeable tour guide who pointed out many “secret” / “hidden” places.
Sandra’s knowledge of Venetian history as it influences the history of the Jewish population was expansive and interesting. She was very responsive to questions. It was a great tour!
Fascinating tour of the Jewish ghetto. Both guides, the primary guide and the one who guided us in the synagogues were extremely knowledgeable of Venetian history and Jewish history in the Veneto region. Both had excellent English, easy to understand and a pleasure to listen to.
The guide was lovely and energetic, she made a point to chat to everyone on the tour. She was fun and gave lots of details. She was also happy to give us recommendations for the rest of our time in Venice. Fascinating to learn about the history of the Jewish community in Venice. Really helped bring to life the area. This was on our list of places we wanted to visit on Venice and this tour didn't disappoint.
Our guide, Clair, was excellent. She memorized our names and used often. She was animated and engaging. Gave us lots of informatiiin, shared about herself, and her favorite things and answered lots of questions.
I have to say this was the highlight of our trip to Venice, both Silvia and. Iole we’re full of wonderful information that was communicated beautifully. If you really want something special take this tour. It is totally worth it.
Fascinating and sobering tour led by an excellent guide Elena.
We have traveled and visited many "ghetto's" and this was definitely a learning experience. Our tour guide was fabulous. I would definitely recommend this tour. Just when you think you know all there is too know up and comes a surprise like the Venetian Jewish Ghetto.
The tour was okay. I dont think I would do this one again. I k ew the area was small but there was nothing special or extra informative for the money spent
This tour was very interesting for Jews and Christians alike. It was amazing seeing two synagogues and learning about the buildings as well as learning about the customs and traditions in the Jewish Ghetto in Venice. I was especially emotional when I saw the stepping stones on the ground.
Wonderful tour. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and you could see and feel her enthusiasm for history. We learned a lot.
The guide in the Jewish quarter was very difficult to understand. We were certainly appreciative of the access and being able to join late but the guide who knew a lot we could not understand Six out of the 10 or 12 people on the tour we're late because the directions to the meeting place were not adequate . I think you can do better.
Exhaustive tour of Venice Jewish ghetto and 2 synagogues. Ghetto tour was comprehensive and quite informative, including historical references, but could have been condensed in 1 - 1.5 hours, rather than 2 hours. The 1 hour synagogue visits were incredibly inspirational. The tour guide, Alicia, had excellent knowledge base and communicated effectively
Interesting history with a good guide! Unfortunately, everything was closed for a holiday, even the restaurants!
Culturally and historically interesting The Tour Guide was very knowledgeable communicated very well reacted well to questions and was insightful and in commentary and many times humor. She extended herself to the needs of the questions of the group. Give additional information when ask questions. wear comfortable shoes.
Very interesting tour, learned a lot about the historical ghetto area. We also were happy to visit 2 synagogues in the area. Our guide had lots of history and information to share.
Fascinating tour through the historic ghetto. We booked this trip through Get Your Guide. Our guide met us near the Jewish Museum, which was a short walk from the Gilge vapretto stop. Over about two hours, our guide took us through the history of Jews in Venice and finished at the Jewish Museum for its tour of one synagogue. The tours overlap a bit, but taking only the museum's tour would have provided less information.
It was a very interesting tour, Christina was quite knowledgeable about the Jewish history of Venice. I would definitely recommend this tour for anyone curious about how the Jewish people lived, and died, in Europe.
Sylvia was a wonderful tour guide Knowledgeable and friendly She took us through the Jewish ghetto providing insights on the origin of the Jewish people in Venice.
Very interesting! Our tour guide was so knowledge about the history and gave full explanation of how the ghetto was created and how it change through it existences.
Fantastic knowledgeable guide and we saw all the important areas of the Jewish quarter. Even though it rained throughout the tour we had a great experience.
This was extremely interesting from a religious and historical perspective. Our guide was very informative and the tour of the synagogues was outstanding. I highly recommend this tour.
Our experience was informative, interesting and provided access to sites we would not have found on our own.
Our guide Claire was enthusiastic and informative. She handed us over to the interesting and thorough Synagogue guide. The tour fulfilled our expectations.
The Venetian Jewish Ghetto From the internet, many Jewish merchants and moneylenders visited and worked in the city beginning with the 10th century. Jews were mentioned in documents in 945 and 992 forbidding Venetian captains from accepting Jews onboard their ships. In 1252, Jews were not allowed to settle in the main part of the city, so they settled on the island of Spinaulunga (also spelled Spinalonga) which later became Giudecca. In 1516, the doges, Venice’s ruling council, debated whether Jews should be allowed to remain in the city. They decided to let the Jews remain, but their residence would be confined to Ghetto Nuova. Jews from the Levant, who practiced Sephardic traditions, moved into Ghetto Vecchio in 1541. The Spanish and Portuguese Jews also came to Venice in the late 16th century and were the strongest and wealthiest community in the ghetto.
Clare was fabulous and waited for us despite our being late (miscalculated timing of boat to get there). She is enthusiastic and speaks so well. Quite knowledgeable!
Was interesting but since we are seeing essentially a one block area there is a lot of standing around. The most interesting part was seeing the inside of the two synagogues that are still actively used. I did enjoy seeing the Jewish shops that made the neighborhood feel alive.
Christina was very knowledgeable and provided a wealth of information about the Jewish Ghetto. It was a very interesting tour and we really enjoyed our time spent with her. We highly recommend this tour. I
Appreciate weather was very cold. But standing around didn't help, could move around the area a bit more. Very informative tour though and the guide was very good.
Inside historical and contemporary look into how Jews were treated in this important part of Europe in the Middle Ages--as well as how the current community lives today. Wonderfully informed guides, expert explanations and visits to historical synagogues still in use today. Not to miss!
Clara was an excellent guide. She informed, entertained and kept our attention for the entire two hours - no easy task.
We Found it very hard to meet at her “meeting place”. There should have been something closer to the canal. Or better directions to get to the center Square. We probably stopped three or four times.
Our guide was Clare. She was very animated and engaging which made the tour come alive. The memorial to the ghetto residents murdered by the Nazis was moving. Very interesting learning the history of the ghetto.
The first part of the tour - learning about the history of Jews in Venice (and Europe and Africa) was very well and respectfully explained. While there was little walking (the ghettos are only two small adjacent ‘islands’ in Venice) so much was covered. Many things you just wouldn’t see or know without a local telling you. The synagogue tour ok - but a lot of repetition from the outside tour which was run by a different guide.
Our first tour guide, Sandra, was a sweet woman, very friendly, except she only spoke to her right. Those of us on her left could barely hear her, even after speaking up about it. She would turn around, begin waking and talking with her back to all of us. Impossible to hear her. Additionally, though she was not Jewish, which is fine, she had very little knowledge about Judaism. She spent most of our time talking about the history of Venice itself, but we were there to learn about the Jewish Ghetto. When she did speak about the creation of the ghetto itself, the forced exile, the locked gates, the 24-hour patrols, she was cheerful and kept telling us how the Venetians have always "protected" the Jews. It felt tone deaf at best, insulting at worst, especially when she casually spoke about all of them being deported to Nazi Germany and only 8 returned. She referred to a moving piece of art as "The Final Solution" when it was really called "The Last Train". I'm sure Sandra is a helpful guide in other areas of the city, but she should not be giving tours of the Jewish Ghetto. The second part of our tour, the synagogue tours, was led by Paola. She was respectful, knowledgeable, and thorough. We would have been better off if we had just done that part of the tour.
The synagogues are amazing and the history of the Ghetto is heartwarming! Our guide, Isabella, is excellent and her English quite good!
Sylvia gave a nice overview of the Ghetto throughout history. She passed the baton to another person who did the synagogue part of the tour. The Italian synagogue was very interesting. However the guide then started to repeat what Sylvia already showed us so we decided t leave.
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